Alameda: When it comes to Lucas Herrington, yesterday’s price is not today’s price.
Before the World Cup had even begun, Barcelona tabled a transfer bid for the teenage Socceroos defender. It was rejected, having failed to meet the valuation of Colorado Rapids, the Major League Soccer club that signed him only six months ago.
The number keeps going up, especially after Herrington became Australia’s youngest-ever starter in tournament history with an excellent performance at left centre-back in a high-pressure, big-stakes game against Paraguay last week.
It was the sort of shift that Socceroos fans have already come to expectduring his very short time in the jersey.
Now, if they really want him, Barcelona – or any of the other European clubs watching him closely – will have to cough up a World Cup premium.
The only people not enjoying the rapid rise of this 18-year-old sensation would be the owners of his former club, Brisbane Roar, who by now should realise the gargantuan mistake they have made.
As revealed by this masthead, the A-League club had negotiated a clause when they sold Herrington to Colorado, which entitled them to 20 per cent of his next transfer fee. It was a savvy move that enabled them to cash in on his future success.
But the Roar’s owners, the Bakrie Group of Indonesia, decided to sell the clause back to Colorado for just $560,000, despite receiving strong advice that they would make many more times that figure if they were patient. Herrington was described last week as a human “Rolls Royce” by fellow Socceroo Harry Souttar. That amount wouldn’t even buy them an actual new Rolls Royce in Australia.
He was valued at between $23 to $30 million by the CIES Football Observatory, and that was before he’d taken to the field at a World Cup. Even a sale at the bottom end of that range would have netted the Roar more than $4.5 million, which is many multiples of what A-League clubs currently receive in distributions from head office.
“They’ll probably be kicking themselves,” said Socceroos teammate Connor Metcalfe.
Before he’d even kicked a ball in the A-League, Herrington was described by Ruben Zadkovich, his former coach at the Roar, as the “best defender in Australian football” – a bold claim which is quickly coming true.
In MLS, he has tested his wits against some of the biggest names in the game, including Lionel Messi, Thomas Muller and Son Heung-min. Invariably, he’s come out on top; he is now regarded as one of the best defenders in the competition, regardless of age. Hence, the interest from the world’s biggest clubs – but where most other players would lose themselves in the hype, it doesn’t seem to have bothered Herrington at all.
He insists that sometimes, he does feel stressed and anxious about football, but it never, ever shows on the field. Or off it, for that matter; he is just as assured and relaxed in a press conference as he is under a long ball.
“It has happened quick. I definitely wasn’t picturing this when I left Australia six months ago,” he said.
“Obviously, in every kid’s mind, you want it to happen this quickly, you want it to happen like this, but you know it is a hard thing to do. I’m just grateful to be given the opportunity to be here and represent the country that I’ve loved living in, being from, and I’ve been supporting for the past couple of World Cups.”
Herrington described Australia’s precious 0-0 draw with Paraguay, played in front of almost 70,000 people, as his “favourite” game of his short career to date. Statistically, he was almost perfect: he completed 62 of 69 attempted passes, made five recoveries, four clearances (three with his head), two tackles and one interception.
“I try to stay calm. I mean, it’s not something that I sort of work on. It might just come naturally,” he said.
His teammates say the same thing about him: Herrington looks, sounds and moves like he’s been doing this forever.
“It’s pretty wild, to be honest. Nothing really phases him,” Metcalfe said.
“He never looks nervous. I’m not nervous when he has the ball … sometimes if a young player is playing, a lot of the other boys can be nervous, [that] they’re going to make a rash decision, but he’s calm on the ball.
“The boys he’s playing next to really help him on the field and also help him develop his game. He’s dealing with all the hype and all the press really well; he’s very level-headed, he’s a very nice guy, and I think that will help him a lot in his next stage.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
